<L^  C^A^     4^'.  '^-(tKXiiC 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESE.riVVTIVES,  February  15,  1864.- Read 
first  and  second  times,  postponed  until  to-morrow,  made  special  order 
for  1  o'clock,  and  ordered  to  ho  printed. 

[Bj  Mr,  Curry.] 


JOIN^T    liESO  LUTIOISrS 

In  reference  to  tlie  treatment  of  colored  troops. 

1  Whereas,   By  certiin  joint  residutiouj*  passed  by  the  Congress 

2  of  the  Confederate  iStates  of  Ametica.  :nid   approved  on  the  Ist 

3  of  May.  1863,  the  proclamations  i>3ued  bv  the  President  of  the 

4  United  States,  *' designed  ">r  tending  to  emancipate  slaves  in  the 
6  Confederate    States,    or   to    abduct    them,   or  to  incite  them  to 

6  insurrection,  or  to  employ  negroes  in  war  against  the  Confederate 

7  States,  or  to  overthrow  the  institution  of  African   slavery  and 

8  bring  on   a  servile  war    in  these   States,"    were  denounced  as 

9  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  those  usages,  which,   in   modern 

10  warfare,  prevail  among  civilized  nations,  and  therefore  as  subject 

11  to  repression  by   retaliation,  as   set  forth    in   said   resolutions; 

12  and  whereas,  in  the  correspondence  between  the  commissioners  for 

1 3  the  exchange   of  prisoners  recently  submitted  to  Congress,  it 

14  appears  by  letter  of  Major  General  Hitchcock,  Commissioner  of 
1  5  Exchange,  dated  at  Washington  on  the  28th  December,  1863, 

16  that    information    is    communicated    to    the    Commissioner    of 

17  Exchange,    appointed    by    this   Government,    that,    "until   the 


2 

18  southern  authorities  make  some  ilistinct  declaration  of  a  puipo3C 

19  to  treat  colored  troops  and  their  officers  in  the  employment  of  the 

20  United  States  Government  in  all  respects  according  to  the  laws 

21  of  war,  as  applicable  to  other  troops,  we  cannot  recede  from  the 

22  position  taken  by  the  Commander-in-Chief  above  referred  to," 

23  this  position  being   an   order  suspending  the  operation  of  tliat 

24  portion  of  article  four  of  the  (.'artel  which  requires  all  prisoners 

25  of  war    to    be    discharged,  on    }>arole,   in  ten    days    after    their 

26  capture. 

27  And   whereas,    it    is   well   known   from  general   orders  issued 

« 

28  from   Washington,  as  well   as   from   other  official  sources,  that 

29  tlie  words,  "  colored  tvo()i)S   and  their  officers,"  used  in  the  said 

30  letter,  are  meant  and  intended  to  include  slaves,  the  property  of 

31  the  people  of  these   Stales,  that  have  been  seized,  abducted  and 

32  impressed   into  the  military   service  of  the  United  State.-!   and 

33  arnied  for  warfare  against  their  masters  ; 

1  Therefore,  it  is  rmolird  by  the  Congress  of  the  Confederott  Statfs 

2  of  America,  That  they  do  a<lhere  to  the  position  that  the  emanci- 

3  pation  of  the  negro  slaves  within  the  Confederate  States  by  the 
A  enemy,  is  not  among  the  acts  of  legitimate  warfare  ;  but  is  pro- 

5  perly  classed,  by  writers  on   public   laws,  including  the  most 

6  eminent  publicists  of  the   United  States,  among  such   acts  as 

7  **  putting  to  death  all  pri'^oners  in  cold  blood  and  without  special 

8  cause,  oi  the  right  to  use  poisoned  weapons,  or  to  assassinate." 


3 

1  2.  Resolved^  That   the  pretension  of    the  United  States  that 

2  these  States,  whenever  they  may  recapture  their  own  slaves,  ab- 

3  ducted  and  armed  by  the  enemy,  shall  deliver  them  back  to  the 

4  enemy  on  parole  as  prisoners  of  war,  is,  in  effect,  a  demand  that 

5  this  Government  shall  recognize  the  right  of  the  United  States 
G  to  legislate  within  its  limits,  and  shall  aid  the  United  States  in 
7  giving  effect  to  such  legislation,  a  pretension  too  monstrous  and 
S  revolting  to  be   yielded  to,  for  a  moment,  by  the  Confederate 

0  States,  and   set  up  by  our  enemies  only  to  create  a  pretext  for 
}()  violating  the    obligation  of  liberating  prisoners  of  war,  in  ac- 

11  cordance  with  the  terms  of  the  cartel,  to  which  the  faith  of  the 

12  two  Governments  is  pledged. 

1  3.  Resolved,  That  Congress  approve  «the  action  of  the  Execu- 

2  tivc  in  refusing  to  entertain  any  proposition  for  treating  our  own 

3  recaptured  negroes  otherwise  than  as  the  property  of  those  from 

4  whom  they  were  abducted  by  the  enemy,  and  to  whom  the  laws 

5  require  their  restoration. 

1  4.  Resolved,  That  neither  these  resolutions,  nor  those  passed  on 

2  the  Ist  May,  1863,  are  to  be  so  construed  as  to  exclude,  from 

3  treatment  as  prisoners  of  war,  such  free  colored  persons  and  their 

4  officers,  as  were  not  resident  within  the  Confederate  States  at  th© 

5  commencement  of  the  present  war. 


4 

AMENDMENT  TO  THE  TITLE,  PROPOSED  BY  MR.  MILES. 

Joint  Resolutions  in  reference  to  slaves  captured  in  arra^,  and  tlie 
exchange  of  free  colored  troops  of  the  enemy. 


